Monday, June 25, 2012

Haagen-Dazs Spiced Caramel Biscuit A limited edition ice cream review

Mmmmmm, ice cream for breakfast.... Ok, technically it was the second part of my breakfast, but it was still before 9AM. What can I say? I always get an urge for dairy on Sunday mornings! Usually I just make a tall glass of chocolate milk, but since the fridge is bare, I needed my fix another way.

That's were Haagen-Dazs comes in to play with their Limited Edition spiced caramel biscuit. If that sounds a little scary, then catch the description "for centuries, Belgian and Dutch bakers have perfected their traditional speculoos: crisp, buttery, sweetly spiced biscuits blah blah blah sugary, crunchy, cinnamon-sparked biscuit pieces blah blah caramel ice cream blah blah blah". Specaloos are a non-dairy, non-egg, non-nut cookie that we keep in the house (it's also made into a spread that I mentioned in this review). Speculoo is no Oreo, but it's a respectable cookie.

Oh I adore when there are cookie bits everywhere. Hey, maybe I could call this the European version of Cookies & Cream? Hehehehe, that would work IF the overall cookie flavor was stronger. Oh, I like this flavor, it's pleasant and refined, but considering I have both Biscoff Cookies and Biscoff spread in the cabinet, the overall cookie flavor isn't nearly strong enough for me.

I got this very familiar vibe when I started digging in, and then it hit me.Do you remember my H-D Spiced Peached review? Well, if you've ever tried that flavor, this is pretty much the same flavor except now it's crunchy instead of peachy. I know that description may seem cheezy and vague, but these two flavors are immensely similar. I was expecting Biscoff to be the main player here, I expected it in my crunch but I wanted it in the base as well, but it's really just a supporting character here.

Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely high quality base with that always refined flavor that H-D delivers. The flavor isn't crazy, H-D never is, it's just really well made. There is a wide range of sizes for the cookie bits and so they add varying amounts of crunch to each bite, but it's never overkill. It goes from very mild to almost-but-not-quite middle of the road crunch. It's never a hard core jaw aching crunch, just crunchy on occasion to remind you that we've got specaloos speckled across this delightful pint.

Sorry, I tried getting a little more creative with this shot.... but let's just agree I need more practice. The good news here is that the addition of the Lotus Biscoff cookies turned out to be an amazing idea. I used them as dipping sticks once the ice cream softened up and the flavor combo was heavenly. I mean that, because, well, the fat content of this stuff is going to send me to the other side quicker than any froyo or frozen dairy dessert ever could.

Nice job Haagen-Daz. My only complaint here is that spiced in the title is going to scare people off from a mild and enjoyable flavor. There is no spice here, just a quality ice cream.

Verdict? Well done, and refinedBuy Again? I would.... if it wasn't so unhealthy!

somebody is wandering the site and making inane comments like yours. It's starting to agitate me. I believe in free speech but it's just annoying. The original commentor was simply making a point, so they mistyped, I don't care. Are you saying you never mistype or misspeak?

This is a family friendly, ice cream loving website. if you aren't here to chill out, feel free to move on.

I don't see what is so great about this ice cream. I was expecting a rich caramel ice cream base, but instead the caramel ice cream is very subtle. I have had richer, sweeter, and more satisfying yogurt and pudding caramel flavors than this ice cream and for an inexpensive price.

I prefer large cookies in my ice cream, as opposed to small bits in every bite, but this ice cream really benefitted from the small bits of cookies in every bite to add texture and added flavor to the bland base ice cream. Still, I prefer my ice cream to be sweeter and richer than this, so it did not work for me.